How Many Mes Owners Here?

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Which One Do You Have?

  • 40'

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 40' with window

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 40' 800 watt

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I like it a lot

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Where did you buy it?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sams Club

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other please list where in a post

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    2
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Well we have a lot of similarities but not age, I will be 70 tomorrow. Hopefully I have my mothers genes as she is 90 today. Sorry we live 1200 miles apart and don't get to share our birthday cakes but we will be thinking of each other for sure. I have stayed a way from water in the pan but have not tried the sand, will do that on my next try. Sounds logical to me.

Mine is the black model with nothing fancier than the digital control panel on the top. Same here..I wanted this unit because we travel w/5th wheel in the summer and spend time fishing salmon in Oregon, the MES 30" is going along this summer. Smoked salmon is awesome!

Not sure about the fit of my pork butt @ 8# but I will find out soon. Have a Happy Birthday tomorrow..........
 
Happy birthday tomorrow to you as well. At least you've shown me that there's life after the 60's--and I mean that on a couple of levels, if you know what I mean.

I'd say our MES is perfect for taking on camping trips, although I personally never will. I got mine off Amazon.com and it's been great. I think the largest brisket I've put in there is a 5#--no pork butts yet--and I've done some St. Louis and baby back ribs in there. The meats start off hugging the walls but shrink away from the walls during the cooking. I always clean the wails when meat has touched them because little crispy bits are left.

I've smoked one salmon that turned out great and I did a couple of cheeses as well. Hope to do more cold smoking over the winter.
 
 
I just got a 30" without the windows. I like it a lot.  My sons bought it for me for my 65th birthday. I've only done a turkey breast on it so far. It came out great! Although my wife said it tasted too smoky. Next time I will cut down a bit on the wood chips.  I plan on doing some turkey legs and a brisket soon.
You might want to look into getting an AMNPS.

Smoother smoke, because it's consistent without touching it, for up to 12 hours. Much better than having to add chips during the smoke & having the amount of smoke varying from too little to too much. That's why it tasted too smoky.

Light to medium smoke for a lot of hours is good. (TBS)

Any amount of heavy white smoke is bad.

Bear
 
 
Lots of life left after 60 in all aspects, if you know what I mean! I live in Arizona, how about you?
 
Happy birthday tomorrow to you as well. At least you've shown me that there's life after the 60's--and I mean that on a couple of levels, if you know what I mean.

I'd say our MES is perfect for taking on camping trips, although I personally never will. I got mine off Amazon.com and it's been great. I think the largest brisket I've put in there is a 5#--no pork butts yet--and I've done some St. Louis and baby back ribs in there. The meats start off hugging the walls but shrink away from the walls during the cooking. I always clean the wails when meat has touched them because little crispy bits are left.

I've smoked one salmon that turned out great and I did a couple of cheeses as well. Hope to do more cold smoking over the winter.
 
Well we have a lot of similarities but not age, I will be 70 tomorrow. Hopefully I have my mothers genes as she is 90 today. Sorry we live 1200 miles apart and don't get to share our birthday cakes but we will be thinking of each other for sure. I have stayed a way from water in the pan but have not tried the sand, will do that on my next try. Sounds logical to me.

Mine is the black model with nothing fancier than the digital control panel on the top. Same here..I wanted this unit because we travel w/5th wheel in the summer and spend time fishing salmon in Oregon, the MES 30" is going along this summer. Smoked salmon is awesome!

Not sure about the fit of my pork butt @ 8# but I will find out soon. Have a Happy Birthday tomorrow..........
 
Pleasure to meet you, azbohunter. I just wonder if we'll be the same age on our mutual birthday? I'll be 62.
hissyfit.gif


Got the ET-732 last week but haven't used it yet. As for the AMNPS, it worked great in the beginning but then I had problems through the next smokes keeping it lit. I brought the problem to these forums and both Todd Johnson and Bearcarver fixed me up with the proper answers. It's all in how you light it because since following their instructions I've had hours of steady thin blue smoke.  I also was putting way too much water in the water bowl; following my two mentors' advice, I turned it into a heat sink by filling it with playground sand and covering it with aluminum foil. I learned the hard way not to leave the sand-filled bowl in the smoker when I'm transporting it back to the garage where I store it. Cleaning out damp sand piled in the rear of the smoker is a thankless job.

I love the MES. Wish I could have been able to afford the 40' but the 30" works well for almost all my smokes. I don't need the glass door or the stainless steel finish. Mine is the black model with nothing fancier than the digital control panel on the top. Haven't used it as much as other guys in the group but I'm at the point where I think I know what I'm doing.

Let us know how the pork butt turns out. I think that at 8 lbs. it would be too big and wide for the 30" but perhaps other guys here have had success in positioning larger cuts of meat on the grates in that smokehouse.
Man...all you old guys make me feel like a kid again!
yahoo.gif
 I'm only 56! lol....
 
Doing up some baby backs tonight.

Got a potluck holiday lunch at work tomorrow and although the brass is catching the cost of the turkey and ham, I figured I'd stir up some BBQ for the event.
 
Hey, Bear  you been feeling O-K   Weather finally cleared up here pretty nice today, supposed to get some more rain, at least the ice and freezing temps are gone for now. Trouble is down here no one can drive on that stuff, but they all think they can. That is why some people were stuck on the road up in the Dallas area for 22 hours.

Gary    ------   from the other East Texas
 
 
Hey, Bear  you been feeling O-K   Weather finally cleared up here pretty nice today, supposed to get some more rain, at least the ice and freezing temps are gone for now. Trouble is down here no one can drive on that stuff, but they all think they can. That is why some people were stuck on the road up in the Dallas area for 22 hours.

Gary    ------   from the other East Texas
Still hangin' in.  Couple snows & a mess of ice, but I got my pellet stove fixed, so we're keepin' warm. Got about 8" of snow on the ground, and it'll be around awhile, with no prediction of temps above freezing for next 10 days. I'm ready for Spring!!

Bear
 
 
Doing up some baby backs tonight.

Got a potluck holiday lunch at work tomorrow and although the brass is catching the cost of the turkey and ham, I figured I'd stir up some BBQ for the event.
Ya young punk ya! But I tell you, if I was attending that lunch, I'd ignore the turkey and ham and make a beeline for your BBQ baby backs.
 
It happened! I opened up one of my birthday gifts and there was the Maverick ET-732! 'Course I bought it myself but the wife wrapped it. Looking forward to using it but gotta wait a bit. It's bitter cold here in WA and I screwed up my right knee so I have to bide my time till both improve. I tell ya, guys, there may be lots of life left after 60 but...age is a cruel thing.
 
 
Ya young punk ya! But I tell you, if I was attending that lunch, I'd ignore the turkey and ham and make a beeline for your BBQ baby backs.
Hey daRicksta...

I did half sweet and saucy and half hot and spicy (~16 lbs total).

They were 100% demolished before the turkey and ham made it to the halfway point!

Guess I wasn't the only one pushing back on tradition...lol
 
I'm expecting delivery tomorrow of 40" digital & the smoker box. Plan is two Pastrami, one Canadian bacon, thick pork chops, and some jerky if time allows. I'm looking forward to non-stop smoking this weekend!
 
trikefreak don't forget to do the prescribed burn-in on your MES. helps burn off anything that'll impart off flavors to your Q and get it ready for what sounds like a marathon smoke weekend haha
 
 
Hey daRicksta...

I did half sweet and saucy and half hot and spicy (~16 lbs total).

They were 100% demolished before the turkey and ham made it to the halfway point!

Guess I wasn't the only one pushing back on tradition...lol
Big Tim,

Will your company be hiring just before the holiday potluck next year? Those ribs must have been fabulous. You might be looking at another career path here...
 
 
Big Tim,

Will your company be hiring just before the holiday potluck next year? Those ribs must have been fabulous. You might be looking at another career path here...
LOL...I wish. I've been making and improving on my own rubs for years and my ribs have been a stand out for some time now (finally figured out to make them good consistently) but my job compensates me a bit better than I could hope to do in food and beverage. *sigh* Someday....
 
I'm Jana in Indiana.  Thanks for having this forum and place for recipes & allowing me to join!  I'm new to smoking.  I have a 40" glass door MES and a Smoke Hollow gas smoker.  The gas one scares me (probably an old lady thing) and takes way too much watching over for me to use by myself, so I bought the MES.  I've only used the MES 2 times so far but I love that I can basically set it & not have to watch it constantly.  The gas smoker was used by my son who now works too much to do it.  Smoker duties are all mine now.  I'm having a problem getting meat (brisket & pork shoulder) tender in 12 hours or so and eventually put them in my kitchen oven so I can go to bed.  Am I expecting them to cook too quickly?  Also, the smoke flavor was not as intense as we'd like.  Please tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Jana
 
Todd's Amazen pellet smoker should give you all the smoke flavor you want.  The link is to the "kit", but you can find each item separately if you don't need, say, the torch, or maybe you don't want

the maple pellets.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=AMNP3

The other thing I consider a necessity is a good probe remote meat thermometer like this Maverick since your MES already has the electronic readout for cooking temp.

http://maverickhousewares.com/et72.htm

I like to get the IT of my pork shoulders up to around 190°, foil it and rest it for at least an hour in a towel lined insulated chest.  You can foil your brisket after 6 hours or so too and allow it to finish.  It'll finish faster sealed in foil.
 
It looks like I'm the owner of a new MES 30, model 20070910. I wasn't in the market for one, but I got a REALLY good deal on it. I just need to season it and see what it'll do. Hopefully have some q pics in the near future.
 
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